Prepare for Takeoff
by LuNarStar-ebi
Summary: She half-wishes that airplane windows could open because this sweet, obnoxious, annoyingly attractive moron makes her want to hurl herself out of one. AU NaLu OS.


**(A/N): Honestly, what is it with me and my modern!au obsession? I have a restaurant!au, a mailman!au, a business!au, and now an airplane!au; coming up next, a hairdresser!au. Haa. Only joking. Maybe. =P**

* * *

Dragging her pale pink suitcase behind her, Lucy pulls out her smartphone out of her pocket and quickly presses her speed dial #1.

"...Levy? It's me, Lucy. Yeah, I'm about to board the plane pretty soon. Mhm. So I'll call you when I reach Magnolia. See you then! Bye~"

She disconnects the call and smiles to herself. Finally, after 5 months she'll get to see her best friend again! The last time she saw her was at their college graduation when Levy's boyfriend had surprised everyone and proposed to her. Well, surprised everyone but Lucy. She had secretly helped Gajeel with the set-up.

Now Lucy was heading off to Magnolia Town for their wedding to be Maid of Honor, and she couldn't be more excited for her friend. Levy had found "the one". Now if only Lucy could find hers... with her luck he probably got hit by a bus or something.

With a sigh, she makes her way to the boarding gate and takes a seat in one of the black chairs. There's still about 20 minutes until they start boarding, so time to wait.

Lucy pulls out a paperback from her suitcase and starts to read. She's happily immersed in the book until there's a loud _bam!_ sounding next to her and she whips her head up, startled.

"Ahaha, sorry 'bout that."The pink-haired stranger picks up his dropped suitcase and offers her a grin.

"It's fine-" _Wait, pink-haired?_ Lucy stares at the guy as he drops into the chair next to her and whips out a sliver Ipod with flame decals.

Lucy realizes that her mind isn't playing games on her. He really does have pink hair.

A giggle slips out of her mouth before she can stop it. Pinky tilts his head towards her, onyx eyes looking at her questioningly.

"Uh, it's nothing." She waves a submissive hand, and he shrugs, leaning back in his seat, arms crossed behind his head. And Lucy can't help but think that the color somehow looks natural on this guy. In fact, though he's just wearing a red T-shirt, basketball shorts, flip-flops, and a scarf, he's actually really attractive. Anddd she's checking him out like a creeper. Ugh.

Lucy hastily turns to her book, focusing her attention back to the story. Until a few minutes later when Pinky starts whistling in tune to his music. Loudly.

And Lucy isn't normally one of those people who freak out if they don't get absolute silence, really she isn't. So she tries to tune him out, slouching down further in her chair. But the whistling is extremely distracting, and Lucy finds herself starting to get annoyed.

"Um, excuse me?" She tries, turning to face the guy. But he doesn't respond, continuing to whistle obnoxiously.

"Hey, buddy!" This time she reaches out a hand and taps his shoulder and he pulls out one of his headphones, head turning to face her.

"Yeah?" He asks, raising one of his eyebrows.

"I'm trying to read here, so could you please stop the whistling? Thanks."

She expects the guy to go back to his music after that but instead he leans over the armrest separating them, so close that she can smell a faint aroma of cinnamon.. mhmmm... what the hell is she doing breathing him in?! _I hate cinnamon, I hate cinnamon, I hate cinnamon._

"Uh, you're kind of invading my personal space-"

"The Grapes of Wrath," He reads aloud, cutting her off. "Why are you reading a book about violent fruit?"

"It's not-"

"You're really weird, ya know that?" Forget what she said about him being attractive. He's so not. Psh.

"Whatever, Pinky." Lucy scoffs, rolling her eyes.

"It's salmon, actually. And the name's Natsu. Natsu Dragneel."

"It's a horror to meet you." She smiles sweetly and Natsu just grins widely.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Aren't ya gonna tell me your name?"

"..Lucy Heartfilia."

"Luigi, is it?"

"LUCY!" She snaps, and she sees that _ridiculous grin again._ God, what has she gotten herself into?

Luckily, the lady at the desk decides that they can finally start boarding now. Lucy jumps up and starts collecting all her luggage. Then she speed-walks to the desk lady and all but shoves her boarding pass at her. _The sooner I get away from this guy, the better my mental health will be. _

Desk Lady rips the perforated part of her boarding pass and hands her the stub. "Thank you for choosing Fairy Tail Airlines! Have a safe flight!"

"Thanks!" Lucy replies quickly and hurries up the metal ramp onto the airplane. Once inside, she breathes a sigh of relief.

"Okay let's see, G776.." She strolls down the aisle and soon finds her designated spot. _Aw yeah! __Window seat, I love you!_

She beams happily. Now, to put her luggage away...

Lucy stands up on her tiptoes and opens the overhead compartment, lifting her suitcase up. But crap, it's super heavy, and she finds herself struggling to carry it. Her fingers are slipping and ohmygod it's gonna fall and break her face-

Suddenly a tan hand reaches out and grabs the suitcase from her, lifting it into the compartment with ease.

"Thanks- Not you again!" She moans as she catches sight of her savior's pink hair.

"Gee, watch it Luce, you're gonna hurt my feelings." Natsu clutches at his heart dramatically.

"_Please_ tell me this isn't your seat."

"Yup! G777. Looks like we're travel buddies!" He smirks and lifts his bag into the overhead storage as well.

Lucy slumps into her window seat. "Of course." She should have seen this coming, really.

Natsu settles into the middle seat next to her. "This is gonna be the best trip ever, don't ya think?"

"That's not the word I would use." She mutters.

"Excuse me?" She beckons to the pretty white-haired flight attendant whose nametag reads "Mira".

"Yes, how can I help you?" She smiles.

"Can I get a seat change, please?" Lucy asks, ignoring Natsu's outraged cry of "HEY!"

"I'm so sorry but all of the other seats are occupied. But if you'd like you could always move to this seat. No one is scheduled to sit here." She points at the empty aisle seat on the other side of Natsu.

"Oh.. That's okay, thanks." She says weakly, and Mira smiles again and walks away.

"Hey Natsu?"

"Yes, Luce?"

"Wanna move over one?"

"Nah, I'm good."

She groans. This is going to be the longest flight of her life.

* * *

The plane finally takes off after the standard safety video and etc. Next to her Natsu is making sounds like he's about to die.

"Natsu. Get it together!" Lucy glares.

"I.. have.. blegh.. motion.. sickness.." His face starts to turn green.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Lucy shrieks and inches away from him, which is pretty much futile cause she's trapped between him and the airplane wall.

_CURSE YOU, WINDOW SEAT! WE ARE SO OVER! _

"Think.. Ima... puke..!"

"No, no, no! Use the bag, USE THE BAG!"

"UGH-!"

Yup, and she's pretty much in hell.

* * *

Thankfully, Natsu's motion sickness calms down after the plane settles. Lucy almost cries in relief.

"Phew! That was terrible." Natsu takes a deep breath.

"Trust me, the feeling's mutual over here." Lucy shudders.

To her surprise, Natsu gives her a sheepish smile. _It's not adorable, shut up Lucy!_

"Sorry, Luce."

"Huh?"

"I'm really sorry. Motion sickness kind of runs in the family... Anyway, I'm sorry, so forgive me?" He looks so freaking sincere, she doesn't even have a choice.

"...Y-yeah."

_But somebody please tell her why, why does her face feel so hot?_

* * *

"Natsu, move your feet, I have to go to the bathroom."

"Yeah, yeah, in a sec." He replies absentmindedly as he stares at his T.V. screen.

"Move now, I have to go!"

"Uh-huh, sure, a little later."

"Natsu, quit watching _Dragon Tales_ and move already!"

"No Max, that's the wrong mushroom!" Natsu gasps.

"Oh for the love of.." Lucy sighs. Of course she got stuck with the 5-year-old.

Guess she doesn't have a choice. She has to climb over him.

Except she kind of undershoots the distance and ends up maybe, sort of straddling his lap.

Well.. this is awkward. On the bright side, she finally got his attention.

Her hands are placed on his shoulders. His hands are somehow now on her waist. Yeah, scratch that 5-year-old comment.

Lucy gulps, but they don't break eye contact, they're just staring at each other, and _why do these things always happen to her?_

She's pretty sure that all the other passengers are gawking at them and she hears one of them cough quietly. That pretty much jars her out of her Natsu-trance.

"Uhm.. bathroom!" She squeaks.

Natsu doesn't say anything but he slowly removes his hands from her waist. _That's not disappointment, Lucy, IT'S NOT._

She doesn't waste any time and scrambles off him into the aisle, practically sprinting to the bathroom.

_Next time, just hold it in._

* * *

Lucy returns from the bathroom after giving herself enough time so that her face recovers from morphing into a tomato.

And ughhhh, it seems like the flight attendant has already gone by with drinks. Honestly, why does she even bother?

But strangely enough, sitting there on her flat table thing is a glass of orange juice. Her favorite.

"Oh Luce, you're back." Natsu looks up at her nonchalantly. It seems he wasn't as affected by her as she was by him. Tch, the jerk. Well if that's how he wants to play it, fine. Lucy can stay cool. Cool like a cucumber.

"Yeah." Ha, that's right. Lucy Heartfilia, Cucumber Queen. Wait.. that just sounds wrong.

"The drink lady came by while you were gone," Natsu states, holding up his Dr. Pepper. "So I got you OJ."

_How the heck did he know? _

"Uh, thanks. Could you, you know.." She gestures to his feet which are once again blocking her path. Perfect, it's the return of the tomato monster.

This time though, he complies and Lucy is able to sit back down without any erm, technical difficulties.

But as she sips her juice and stares out at the clouds, she half-wishes that airplane windows could open because this sweet, obnoxious, annoyingly attractive moron makes her want to hurl herself out of one.

* * *

Dinner is uneventful and passes by quickly. And before Lucy knows it, the "Good night" call is sounded, the lights turn off and the whole cabin in plunged into darkness.

Lucy is so cold that she can't sleep. Honestly, she doesn't understand why the pilot thinks that 40 °F is totally acceptable conditions.

She's already put on the long thermal socks provided and wrapped the blanket around her like a tight cocoon. And she's still freezing.

She glares at Natsu who seems to have no problem with the temperature as he's already snoring away, mumbling something about tasty flames. And he said she's the weird one?

But seriously, Lucy doesn't understand how all these people on the plane haven't contracted hypothermia by now. She reaches out and touches Natsu's arm to see if his skin is cold as hers and holy crap, he's sooooo warm, it's not even fair. This dude has some wacky body heat.

_Screw it all. _

Lucy shifts closer to Natsu until she's practically nuzzled against his side. She's desperate, okay? That's the only reason why. Plus Levy would be pissed if her Maid of Honor showed up at her wedding as an icicle. Yeah, let's go with that.

And the last thing she thinks about before she loses consciousness is that damn _cinnamon_ and how she's way too comfortable pressed up against Natsu's body. Scarily so.

* * *

"Luce?"

"Hey c'mon, get up."

"Lucyyy."

Lucy groans at the persistent voice that won't let her sleep. And she was having _such_ a good dream too...

Reluctantly, she opens her eyes and squints against the sudden brightness. And she realizes a couple things at once. #1: It's morning. #2: Somehow in her sleep she grabbed Natsu's arm and is currently using it as a pillow. #3: Said Natsu has a devilish smirk on his face that she swears should be illegal.

"Yeah, can I have my arm back? We're about to reach Magnolia."

Lucy splutters for a few seconds, but she can't think of a comeback. So she releases his arm and chooses instead to start gathering her things.

And sure enough, the plane starts to descend and Lucy glances warily at Natsu for any signs of nausea.

He grins at her. "Don't worry, I asked the flight attendant for some Dramamine."

_YES!_

They touch down on the runway, and Lucy stands up to get her suitcase when she realizes that Natsu has already got it for her. Again.

"Thank you." She smiles genuinely and she thinks she can see a faint blush on Natsu's face as he scratches the back of his head.

"No problem."

They exit the plane into the airport and Lucy turns to look at Natsu who's still standing at her side.

"Well.. um.."

She doesn't understand. This has been the most awkward, embarrassing, and exasperating flight of her life. So why is she so sad to say goodbye?

Lucy opens her mouth but at that moment Natsu leans down and kisses her. And before she can respond back, or do _anything_, he pulls away.

"See you later, Luce." He winks, and then he's gone, leaving her slack-jawed and dumbstruck in the middle of Magnolia International Airport.

* * *

_-A week later-_

It's been seven days, a whole 168 hours, and she can't get him out of her head.

And she knows that he's just some random guy she met on a plane but _crap, _dude.

_"See you later, Luce." _

She freaking hates him. How dare he kiss her and just leave like that?

But she forces herself to try and forget about him. No matter what he said, there's no chance of her ever seeing him again; heck the only thing she really knows about Natsu Dragneel is his name! And that he's good-looking and has pink hair. And has motion sickness. And is obsessed with _Dragon Tales_. And is like a human heater when it comes to body temperature. And is the most annoying person ever, but also thoughtful when he wants to be. And- _Gah_. She's thinking about him again.

"Lucy? Are you okay?"

Lucy's head snaps up and she sees her petite, blue-haired friend watching her with a concerned expression.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine! Sorry, spaced out for a sec."

"Oh." Levy frowns. "Just that you had a strange look on your face."

"Don't worry about me, it's your wedding day! More importantly, you look gorgeous! Gajeel's going to fall flat when he sees you." Lucy grins.

Levy laughs and twirls in her dress. "You think?"

"Yes, you are quite lovely." Erza, another one of their college friends and one of Levy's bridesmaids, nods in approval.

And as all of their friends compliment Levy, Lucy tells herself to stop moping and focus on her best friend's wedding. From now on, she's going to be the greatest Maid of Honor ever.

That determination pretty much disappears after she sees _him_ walk through the door. What is he doing here?!

"Hey, Erza!" Lucy hisses, grabbing her friend's arm and pointing at Natsu. "That guy over there.."

"Huh? Oh that's Natsu. He's Gajeel's cousin."

Of course. His cousin. Why the hell not? She swears her life is like some sort of soap opera.

Lucy knows that she should be pissed, but she only feels an overwhelming happiness when she sees his face.

So when he spots her and waves at her with a "Hi, Luce!", she walks over to him. And slaps him in the face, right there in the middle of the wedding hall.

_Smack!_

The entire hall falls silent.

"Luce-" Natsu begins.

But she doesn't let him finish, grabbing him by the tie and pulling his mouth down to hers.

When Lucy breaks their kiss, all Lucy's friends are gaping at them (ah well, she'll fill them in later), and the rest of the people are wolf-whistling or cheering.

Natsu is grinning.

"Hey Luce, go out with me?"

"Yeah, all right."

She freaking hates him. But also sort of loves him too.

* * *

**So turns out that "the one" didn't get hit by a bus after all, Lucy! He was right next to you on that airplane, lol. **

**Tried a different writing style this time and it ended**** up a lot longer than it was supposed to be. But eh, I like it :)**

**Drop me a line telling me what you think! **


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